Oral cleaning/suctioning instruments and tracheal suctioning catheters are commonly used in health care patients with respiratory distress, critical illness, chronic illness, terminal illness, weakness, paralysis or any patient requiring breathing support from a ventilator. Patients are usually in an altered mental state from sedation, confusion or being frightened and sometimes do not cooperate for oral cleaning/suctioning and tracheal suctioning. Patients sometimes bite down on the cleaning and suctioning instruments and sometimes break a piece of the instrument off in the mouth or even bite caregivers fingers. Other problems that exist is a spread of bacteria from the mouth to the lungs when tracheal suctioning and instrument insertion trauma to the nose or mouth. Nasogastric tubes and orogastric tubes are commonly used in the course of health-care, most frequently in the preparation before, during and after surgery. The nasogastric and orogastric tubes have been a problem for patients and clinicians for some time. When the nasogastric tubes are inserted into the nose, sometimes these tubes coil in the back of the throat. When inserting orogastric tubes, patients tend to bite down and stop the process. There is also the danger of the patient biting the caregiver's finger. Typically, these nasogastric/orogastric tubes are formed from the resilient plastic material such as polyurethane polyethylene or silicone polymer. These tubes typically have a proximal end, a distal and a central lumen or passageway. Further details about such tubes can be found in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,778,448 and 4,634,425 the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. These tubes may be manufactured from surgical steel additionally.